ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, Colo. (AP) - The elk whose mating rituals draw thousands of visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park each fall are in the cross hairs - literally - because there are too many of them.

The problem is the elk have altered the park's ecosystem by eating aspens and willows into near oblivion, wiping out habitat for beavers and birds. They also amble through the yards and gardens of homes outside the park, increasing chances for conflicts with people.

But the park's recommended solution - using sharpshooters to cull the herd at night - has stirred opposition from hunters, environmentalists and even members of Congress. A final plan is due this summer.

"I think everyone agrees there's a problem," said John Baudek, mayor of Estes Park, the park's eastern gateway.

Biologists estimate there were from 2,200 to 3,000 elk in the park and surrounding valley. The numbers have fluctuated, dropping recently to 1,700 to 2,200 as some elk have moved farther east, possibly because of drought followed by rough winters. The goal is a population of 1,200 to 1,700.

Park biologist Therese Johnson said the area's elk densities - up to 285 per square mile in some prime winter range - are the highest recorded for a free-ranging herd in the Rockies.

North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt National Park faces a similar dilemma, where the public is pressuring park managers to enlist hunters rather than taxpayer-funded shooters to reduce the elk herd. An exception is Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming. The 1950 law that approved the park allowed hunting to help keep down elk numbers because of the area's limited winter range. Rocky Mountain National Park officials said involving hunters was discussed to control the herd but wasn't among the options in a preliminary plan released last year because of legal hurdles. A 1929 law bans hunting in the park. Development has limited hunting outside park boundaries.

"There are also 90 years of expectations that visitors can recreate here and not be displaced by hunters," park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said.

The option backed by park officials in a draft 20-year elk management plan calls for contractors or federal employees to shoot between 200 and 700 elk annually in the first four years and 25 to 150 each year after that.